Women’s world No.1 Iga Swiatek says she hopes the WTA is making a good strategic choice by choosing to resume their tournaments in China later this year.
The government body announced last week that events will resume in the Asian country after admitting that it was unlikely that they would reach a compromise regarding Peng Shuai. There are concerns that Shuai is being censored by authorities after making allegations of sexual assault against a former government official. The WTA had called for an investigation into the matter and suspended their partnership with China for 16 months due to their concerns.
“After 16 months of suspended tennis competition in China and sustained efforts at achieving our original requests, the situation has shown no sign of changing. We have concluded we will never fully secure those goals, and it will be our players and tournaments who ultimately will be paying an extraordinary price for their sacrifices,” a WTA statement read.
“For these reasons, the WTA is lifting its suspension of the operation of tournaments in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) and will resume tournaments in China this September.”
Questioned about the decision during her pre-tournament press conference at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Swiatek says she trusts the WTA. The three-time Grand Slam winner is yet to play a tournament in the country. In fact, she has only played one tournament in Asia which was the 2020 Olympic tennis tournament in Tokyo, Japan.
“I just trust that the WTA is making the right decision. I hope that we, as players, can be safe no matter what country we are from,” said Swiatek.
“I don’t have any kind of emotional influence because I have never even been to China. It’s hard for me to say anything, but I just hope that WTA is strategically making a good choice.”
Prior to the Shuai case, China was a massive financial draw for the WTA. In 2019 nine tournaments were held in the country which had a total prize money pool of $30.4M. There is yet to be confirmation of what events are taking place later this year but it is understood that the WTA Finals will be held in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, on the men’s Tour China will host four events this year with a total financial commitment of more than $16M.
There has been speculation about if some tennis players would consider boycotting China in a show of solidarity with Shuai who is believed to be living in Beijing. However, Swiatek has distanced herself from such talk.
“We haven’t talked about it in the team but the biggest tournaments are going to be there at the end of the year,” She commented.
“The calendar is constructed that way, so we kind of have to follow that. But we (my team) have only talked about (our schedule) up until Wimbledon what’s happening.”
Swiatek is the defending champion in Stuttgart this week and will open up her campaign against Qinwen Zheng who has also spoken about the WTA’s return to China. The match will be the Pole’s first test since taking time away from the Tour due to a rib injury.
“It’s the first tournament on clay, so for sure I would love to play well, but I also know that I might be a little bit rusty because coming back from injury it’s always a little bit like that,” Swiatek said of her current form.
“So I’m keeping my expectations low, but for sure I want to play the best tennis possible.”
